The Last Error

I was reading the IFB KJV Blog about errors in the King James Bible when I ran across this verse:

Saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise again. Command therefore that the sepulchre be made sure until the third day, lest his disciples come by night, and steal him away, and say unto the people, He is risen from the dead: so the last error shall be worse than the first. (Matthew 27:63-64 KJV)

I thought of how grateful we should be that the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate and made this request.  The Sadducees didn’t.

Once Jesus died, I think the Sadducees could not have cared less about Him because they did not believe in heaven/hell or a resurrection of any kind.  The Pharisees did.  However much Jesus had led the people astray with His teaching, however large the error He inserted into lives by telling them He was the Messiah, that was only the first error.  The last, the greater, would be if His disciples stole the body, claiming that He had risen from the dead.  Some believe that was what was accomplished. The Bible tells us differently.

Pilate said unto them, Ye have a watch: go your way, make it as sure as ye can. So they went, and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone, and setting a watch. (Matthew 27:65-66 KJV)

Now, take just a few moments and read the first verses in chapter 28. The resurrection occurred before the stone was rolled away from the doorway. 

From the religious leaders’ point of view, they had to live with that last error, watching the growth of Jesus’ following long after His death.

Why did they fear the belief that Jesus rose?  Because they had been preaching that through scriptures, then ignored Jesus as He made it plain with scriptural authority and miracles that He was the Messiah. His resurrection proved it.

I, too, have a fear of an error – the error of friends and family who do not find resurrection miraculous.  I am concerned for them and I pray they will search the scriptures, too.  Pray they will come to understand why Jesus said:

For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. (Luke 19:10 KJV)